Despite what you might assume, planes are no less healthy than any other form of transport. The germs of common respiratory illnesses don’t circulate widely around aeroplanes.
Nevertheless, if you’re looking to avoid the latest round of COVID-19 or seasonal flu, then being cooped up with hundreds of other people in a closed environment isn’t ideal. There are things you can do to minimise catching the sniffles, however.
An aisle sitter interacts with an average 64 people over the course of a transcontinental US flight.Credit: Alamy
A study published by the National Academy of Sciences in the US concluded that those who sit by the window come into contact with fewer airborne germs than those who sit in the middle seat, and far fewer than those on the aisle.
There are several reasons for this happy result. An aircraft’s HEPA or high-efficiency particulate air filters push air up the sides of the cabin and back down towards the aisle. Window-seat passengers are getting the refreshed air before anyone else.
Furthermore, window seats are the most socially isolated. You only have one passenger adjacent to you, and you’re further away from crew and other passengers walking up and down the aisle.
Window passengers also tend to get up less frequently, and so themselves don’t circulate much around the cabin interior. (A health downside of this, however, is deep-vein thrombosis, caused by prolonged immobility.)
You can reduce your chances of infection by wearing a mask.Credit: Greg Straight
According to the same study, which tracked 1500 transcontinental airline passengers in the US, an aisle sitter interacted with an average 64 people over the course of a flight, while for a window sitter this dwindled to just 12 other people.
However, those seated within a metre of an infectious passenger are doomed, no matter where they are, since their risk of contracting an illness soars to 80 per cent, compared to a mere three per cent for more distanced passengers.
